Sunday, April 29, 2007

“I was back home in Maryland with all my family and friends. We rented out a private room in a restaurant and watched the draft.”

On what his expectations were heading into today:

“I have been hearing many things from the late first to the second [round]. The general consensus was that I would go somewhere in the second round, possibility slipping into the third. I headed into this weekend with an open mind. Hopefully I would go wherever and play. I wanted to get the draft behind me and go to my new team and help them win championships.”

On whether he was surprised the Eagles chose him:

“To be honest, I wasn’t. I just wanted to keep an open mind about everything. Going into the day, I knew the draft was filled with a bunch of different possibilities. Whatever happens, happens. I could end up anywhere. I really didn’t know that the Eagles were going to select me, but I knew that anything could happen and that is what happened today.”

On whether he interviewed with the Eagles:

“Slightly, I did interviews throughout the whole combine and Senior Bowl, but I never took a visit to Philly or anything like that.”

On whether he has a sense of where he will fit in with the team and whether he is ready for competition at the position:

“Yeah, I just wanted to go to a situation where they had a lot of veteran players that I can learn from. That is where the Eagles are at right now. They have a lot of veteran guys like [DE Jevon] Kearse and [DE] Trent Cole who have experience playing that position. I want to go in and help the team win football games and compete early.”

On whether he feels like he will be ready to play early:

“I believe so. I am going to go into the season with high expectations in myself. I am going to go in ready to compete and learn from the older guys. Hopefully, I will see the field on Sundays.”

On whether he would rather have gone to a team with less competition at the DE position:

“I think this situation is great for me to be able to go in and learn from guys that have played the position so well for so long. I will take in that information and mix that in with my own game, so I can go out and perform to my best.”

On what changed for him between his sophomore and junior years at Notre Dame:

“We had a coaching change from our sophomore to our junior year. It was not just myself, but the whole team bought into [head] coach [Charlie] Weiss’ attitude and mentality of being confident in yourself and your playing abilities. We all just took to that, played hard and played well. I certainly grew in the weight room, worked on my speed and other things like that. It helped me out on the field and the results showed.”

On what he thinks is the strongest part of his game:

“I think I have a good combination of size, speed and power that lets me be versatile enough to be an every down defensive end. I can play the run, pass and you don’t have to take me off the field in any situation.”

On what coach Weis told him about the draft process:

“He told me to keep an open mind about the whole thing and that’s what I did. He told me that I was a good football player and that I would end up in the right situation. He told me to go somewhere and play and that is what I am planning on doing.”